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Judge Divides Polygamist Custody Hearings By Moms

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Jul 25, 2008 2:29 pm US/Central

Judge Divides Polygamist Custody Hearings By Moms

SAN ANGELO (AP) ― The judge who had her custody decision reversed on more than 400 polygamist sect children has ordered the case be broken up by mother, creating 119 separate child welfare cases.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther on Thursday signed orders dividing up the children who were previously lumped into two large court cases.

The Texas Supreme Court in May struck down Walther's order that the children taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch be placed in foster care, saying authorities had shown no more than a handful of teenage girls were abused or at risk.

Lawyers for children and parents from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints complained from the beginning that they were unfairly treated as one large group, rather than individual households. Thursday's orders legally separate the cases of each mother and her children.

A child welfare investigation by Child Protective Services continues even though the children were returned to their parents last month.

Separately, five men, including jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, were indicted for sexual abuse of a child on Tuesday in Eldorado. A sixth sect member was indicted for failure to report child abuse.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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